Ellen Barkin is one of the most respected, versatile actresses on the screen; she is equally at home playing supporting roles, character roles, and leads — even as true stardom eluded her. Prior to becoming an actress, Barkin attended the renowned High School for the Performing Arts in New York, studied history and Drama at Hunter College, and attended workshops at The Actors Studio. Barkin debuted on-stage in 1980's Irish Coffee and continued her theater work while appearing the following year in the soap opera Search for Tomorrow. She had roles in various TV movies before making her critically acclaimed film debut as the neglected wife of an obsessive record collector in Barry Levinson's Diner (1982), and subsequently went on to play supporting roles ranging from unhappy wives to white-hot sexpots to a small but vital part as Robert Duvall's troubled daughter in Tender Mercies (1983). Following her appearance in the romantic thriller The Big Easy in 1987, Barkin gained a small but devoted following. While filming the experimental supernatural thriller Siesta (1987), she met her husband, Irish actor Gabriel Byrne, with whom she had two children. (The couple divorced in 1993.) Remaining involved with The Actors Studio when not working, Barkin worked steadily during the late '80s and throughout the '90s — most notably in Sea of Love (1989) — and appeared (with Oprah Winfrey) in 1997's Before Women Had Wings, her first TV movie in 13 years.